Our mission is to promote student success through evidence-based science education. The University of Oregon Science Literacy Program (SLP) makes a real-world difference in the lives of UO students by building science literacy among undergraduate students, giving science students mentored teaching opportunities […]

Winter term we will read Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning. Lang, J. M. (2016). Small teaching: Everyday lessons from the science of learning. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. You can purchase a copy of the book or an electronic copy is available free […]

The Science Literacy Program has grown tremendously since it was founded in 2010. Last year, nearly 20% of undergraduate students participated in an SLP-affiliated course. The SLP works with faculty instructors, graduate fellows, and undergraduate scholars to improve pedagogy and science communication […]

OUR MISSION IS TO SUPPORT STUDENT SUCCESS THROUGH DEVELOPMENT OF EXCELLENT SCIENCE TEACHERS.

Journal Club

This week we will focus on using storytelling in science to teach the nature of science, science content, and to build student interest in science courses. The Thursday session (which will meet in LISB 217 at 9 am) will read Clough, M. P. (Sept. 29, 2010). The Story Behind the Science: Bringing Science and Scientists to Life in Post-Secondary Science Education. Science and Education http://www.bu.edu/hps-scied/files/2012/11/Clough-HPS-Story-Behind-the-Science-Bringing-Science-and-Scientists-to-Life-in-Post-Secondary-Science-Ed.pdf

To get a sense of the approach that the authors take and what they include, please also look over one of the stories at the following link:

https://www.storybehindthescience.org/index.html

The Friday session will attend the workshop “Scientific Storytelling: Humanities Meets Science” led by Jennifer Yates from Ohio Wesleyan University. The workshop will be held in EMU Swindells Room from 1-2 PM. Hope to see you there.

The Science Literacy Program is hiring an SLP Graduate Education Mentor for the 2017-2018 academic year. The position description and application is on the grad school website. All interested graduated students are encouraged to apply.

The office for Research and Innovation seeks a creative, articulate and intrinsically-motivated graduate student who wishes to join a team of professionals working to improve science communication skills among University of Oregon researchers. The coordinator will both participate in training activities designed for members of the UO research community and provide administrative and event planning support. For more information, please visit the website.

The SLP Day of Teaching Workshops will be held on Friday, April 21, in the EMU Swindells Room. Faculty, graduate students, and post-docs are invited to drop in for one session or attend the entire day. The schedule is as follows:
9 am-12 pm: Thinking Skills for the 21st Century: Teaching for Transfer
12-1 pm: Lunch
1-2 pm: Scientific Storytelling: Humanity Meets Science
2:15-3:15 pm: Encouraging Your Students to Make More Mistakes
3:30-4:30 pm: Tasks Inspired and Enhanced by Science Education Research (TIESERs)

If you are a high school teacher or college/university instructor and want to enhance your professional development, our POGIL 3-day workshops are for you! You will learn about POGIL’s philosophy and methodology and benefit from additional focus on activity writing, classroom facilitation, and/or lab implementation. Informative posters and plenary sessions will provide you with opportunities to meet and network with other POGIL users. The Northwest Regional Workshop will be held at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon from July 25-27. More information can be found on the POGIL website.

Please join us for a special spring event that we hope will serve as a powerful launch for UO’s efforts toward core curriculum re-design: “Dear X: Letters from the Classroom.” The performance of actual letters from UO students and faculty offers a unique and concrete anchor for discussion about transforming our undergraduate education. Students, feel free to bring your friends. Faculty, advisors, and staff, feel free to bring your colleagues. This conversation is for all of us. This event will be held on April 18, 4-6pm in the Global Scholars Hall (GSH 123). You can reserve your spot here (and forward the link to others you invite): http://bit.ly/2kH1ttg
Learn more about Transforming Education by Design (trED) here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opE30c0t9LI&t=16s

The Science Program to Inspire Creativity and Excellence (SPICE) has launched a crowdfunding campaign through the UO DuckFunder site beginning April 3rd. Our goal is to raise enough money to cover all the scholarship needs of our campers for the 2017 summer camps. Over the years, SPICE has excelled at reaching out to low income girls, with 40-60% of our campers receiving free and reduced lunch in school. Of course, this also means that the need for financial assistance is high. You can be confident that a donation to SPICE will go directly to providing a girl with two weeks of exciting hands on science that she will remember for the rest of her life. More information and donation options can be found on the DuckFunder site.

The Graduate Evolutionary Biology and Ecology Students (GrEBES) are pleased to present our annual spring public seminar. This year we explore the topics of biofuels and bioremediation through the eyes of social scientist Stanley Asah, bioengineer Christine Kelly, and chemical engineer Greg Rorrer. Join next Friday, April 21st, at 7pm in Straub 156 for this exciting evening. Harnessing Ecology t-shirts are for sale! Please contact Katja (kkasimat@uoregon.edu) or purchase at the seminar ($16 cash only). For more information on the symposium, please visit the website.

Please join us for a long-anticipated presentation by Dr. Matthew Hora of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Hora will discuss the research described in his book Beyond the Skills Gap which explores the shortcomings of the policy-driven educational movement to prepare students with “market-ready” skills.

Hora’s book will be available for sale at the presentation.

The presentation will be in the Science Library, room B040 on Friday, May 12th from 3:00-4:30 PM.

Assessment in the College Science Classroom is a great book that provides an introduction to the goals of classroom assessment, assessment techniques and the research supporting them, and advice on how to implement them in your course. This book is useful far beyond the science faculty for whom it was nominally written.Dirks, C., Wenderoth, M. P., & Withers, M. (2014). Assessment in the college science classroom. W.H. Freeman Scientific Publishers.

SLP members will participate in the Eugene March for Science to support the importance of science literacy for all. Join us on Wednesday, April 19th (2-4pm) in the Willamette Atrium for coffee, cookies and poster-making. We will provide snacks. You provide your favorite science slogans, markers, and poster paper (or perhaps box tops or styrofoam boxes or other creative medium) to create a poster.

If you’d like some poster slogan ideas or to register for webinars about how to advocate for science after the march, please visit the AAAS website.

UO Women in Graduate Sciences (UOWGS) is excited to announce that scholarship applications for 2017 are now open! Several scholarships are offered for both undergraduate and graduate students at UO. Please see the website for more information. Applications are dueby May 1st at 3 pm. Note that membership is required for graduate student awards, but you can join at uowgs.com up until the scholarship deadline! Questions about scholarship applications can be emailed to scholarships.uowgs@gmail.com

The 6th Annual UO Science and Invention Fair is scheduled for April 22nd which also happens to be Earth Day and the March for Science. We hope to have a really great event this year. In order to do that, we need help from folks like you! We still need more judges. If you have 2.5 hours to spare, please consider being a judge.
You can sign up to volunteer and learn more about the fair on our web site:Volunteer sign-uphttp://spicescience.uoregon.edu/science-fair-volunteer-2016Fair Informationhttp://spicescience.uoregon.edu/uo-science-fair

The Museum of Natural and Cultural History is offering Graduate Laurel Awards in the Education and Exhibitions Departments for the 2017-18 academic year. Visit the website for more information.
The deadline to apply is Monday, May 22, 2017.

The DeArmond MakerSpace is for use by University of Oregon students, staff and faculty from any department. Use of the facility by others is only allowed for special UO-sanctioned events with prior written approval by PSCRL Staff. The Maker Space is open slightly shorter hours than the library; this calendar describes scheduled workshops in the space. Equipment reservations are a separate calendar.